Former United States Senator Barbara Boxer was attacked and robbed on Monday during a visit to Northern California, the former politician revealed on her Twitter account.
California Democrat Boxer was visiting Oakland's Jack London Square neighborhood before someone suddenly pushed her from behind while taking her phone, her tweet said. The post noted that the former Senator was assaulted in the area and revealed the suspect quickly jumped into a parked car and drove away after committing the crime.
Unprovoked Assault
The post said that Boxer was not seriously injured during the encounter and showed the former politician's gratitude that it did not escalate any further. The Oakland Police Department reported that the incident took place at around 1:15 p.m. in the 300 block of 3rd Street. However, the department did not confirm whether or not Boxer was the victim, Fox News reported.
In a statement, the police said that the suspect forcefully took the victim's mobile phone and quickly fled into a nearby vehicle and drove away. An investigation into the incident is currently ongoing and a $2,000 reward has been put up for any information that could lead to an arrest.
On Monday night, a spokesperson said that Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf expressed her "troubled" response to the incident. Justin Berton said the mayor was deeply concerned about the occurrence of the crime and that Schaaf spoke with the former Senator's family to extend her wishes for a speedy recovery. The spokesperson noted that the Oakland Police Department was collecting surveillance footage of the crime that could help determine the identity of the suspect, ABC7 News reported.
Surging Violent Crime
The incident comes as the nation tackles the problem of surging crime in nearly all cities. Authorities revealed that many small cities that commonly have relatively fewer murders than others are seeing significant increases since last year. So far, killings in Albuquerque, Austin, Texas, and Pittsburgh have doubled.
On the other hand, Portland, Oregon, has seen the crime rate go up by five times in the last year. The data of the crime numbers were released and compiled by Jeff Asher, a crime data analyst and co-founder of AH Datalytics.
Many U.S. cities have Democratic mayors, and after last year's protests over police brutality against Black Americans, lawmakers have begun a "defund the police" movement. The result is law enforcement across the nation has reduced their police budget.
Republicans have taken advantage of the narrative of rising crime and defunding the police to push their agendas in key swing districts that could be crucial to deciding control of the U.S. House next year. The GOP needs five seats to take majority control of the House.
Mike Berg, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee that is responsible for recruiting and advising GOP congressional candidates, said Democrats across the U.S. should be held accountable for the rise in crimes for defunding the police.
The attack comes amid a push by Republicans that targets Democrats over their take on crime, economy, and border security, NPR reported.
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